The Continuing Saga of RK, PRK, or LASIK: My Experience with One of These Eye Surgeries

Not long after RK, or radial keratotomy, came a new technique for shortening the focal length of the nearsighted eyeball. This was the long awaited PRK, photorefractive keratotomy. The procedure reshapes the cornea, in effect, shortens the focal length. A laser with low-heat UV radiation removes corneal material literally microscopic layers at a time. The procedure is robotic; the laser is pre-programmed, literally vaporizing a few molecules with each pulse from just the right place on the corneal surface.

I found an eye surgeon in northern New Jersey who performed the new procedure. He was famed for being the current expert and most seasoned physician performing the new procedure on the entire East Coast. At the time, he had performed just over a thousand PRKs. I was satisfied with his credentials and record of successful surgeries. The biggest downside was that his office was two hours away from home.

The procedure required one day for me out of work and two follow-up visits on two successive days. Committed to have the surgery done by this particular doctor but with no transportation to his office for three successive days, I made arrangements with a local hotel. I would stay there post-surgery to recover for two days and walk to the two follow-up appointments.

This was the plan for eye number one, the worst of my two. One at a time was the preferred approach for me; having two done at the same time seemed more risk than I wanted to bear. Besides, the surgeon wasn't recommending that both be done together.

My nearsightedness measured around -4 and -5 diopters with astigmatism at -3.5 in the worst eye. Surgery would occur first on the worst eye, with astigmatism, as well as nearsightedness, addressed by the surgery. The doctor informed me that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) had not yet approved the procedure for astigmatism, but it was coming. So is Christmas, I thought. But not to worry: the astigmatic condition would be removed from my eye, FDA approval notwithstanding. I put my faith in the doctor rather than in any governmental approval of a surgical procedure.

Perhaps somebody else would be worried about the legality of performing the surgery for an unapproved application. Not me! Show me credentials, experience, competence, and confidence, and I'm with you 100%. Besides, he was Italian and softly sang folk songs in Italian during my exams. He was as down-home, unassuming, and as confident with my upcoming surgery as a trip to the market for Roma tomatoes to finish a delectable spaghetti sauce cooking in the basement kitchen.

The day of the surgery came, and I felt as confident in a good outcome as a soothing Italian folk song. The nurse welcomed me to the office, offered me a comfortable seat, a Diet Coke, and a Valium. "What's the Valium for?" One needs a little helper to remain calm during the procedure. That is, the offer had nothing to do with my mental health or current demeanor, at least not outwardly. The medical personnel were well aware that despite the bravery being shown by prospective patients, a lot of anxiety was undoubtedly buried beneath stoic exteriors.

Seated in the surgery chair, I was asked to open my eye wide while the doctor applied a device that would keep the eyelid open. One does not appreciate the normal, constant, strong urge to blink until doing that is impossible. That was perhaps the only uncomfortable part of the entire procedure.

The doctor then announced that 45 zaps of the laser would be heard. That happened, although I didn't count. The surgery was done. It took little more than a minute.

"That's it?" That's it.

Oh, they did put in a clear, soft contact lens 'bandage' to protect the cornea during healing. The doctor would remove it during one of my post-op visits. I will tell you, I saw with vastly improved vision upon arising from that chair. Vision improvement was immediate. My eye felt a trifle uncomfortable, like some grit was in it, but nothing outstanding like the 'cement blocks' that were in there before. And the Valium was still removing all worldly cares.

I walked to my hotel, took a long nap, and proceeded to pamper myself for the next 2.5 days for a full recovery. A regimen of antibiotic and anti-inflammatory eye drops was all that followed. Vision turned out to be a bit better than 20/20. Astigmatism and nearsightedness were gone, and so were the contact lenses.

I take that back. I still wore a contact lens in the other, uncorrected eye. It was soft, uncomfortable, clumsy to insert, clumsier to remove, and didn't correct my vision all that well in that eye. It compared quite unfavorably to the surgical eye, which now had vision better than ever in my life.

Find out what happened to the other eye in...The Continuing Saga of RK, PRK, or LASIK: My Experience with One of These Eye Surgeries. Part 3, Eye Number Two...coming soon.